Genius Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMN AOPQRSPTMM UVMWKXYZGA2B2C2AD2IE 2F2G2H2I2PJ2K2DPH2PH 2AKDo I believe sayest thou what the masters of wisdom would teach me | A |
And what their followers' band boldly and readily swear | B |
Cannot I ever attain to true peace excepting through knowledge | C |
Or is the system upheld only by fortune and law | D |
Must I distrust the gently warning impulse the precept | E |
That thou Nature thyself hast in my bosom impressed | F |
Till the schools have affixed to the writ eternal their signet | G |
Till a mere formula's chain binds down the fugitive soul | H |
Answer me then for thou hast down into these deeps e'en descended | I |
Out of the mouldering grave thou didst uninjured return | J |
Is't to thee known what within the tomb of obscure works is hidden | K |
Whether yon mummies amid life's consolations can dwell | L |
Must I travel the darksome road The thought makes me tremble | M |
Yet I will travel that road if 'tis to truth and to right | N |
- | |
Friend hast thou heard of the golden age Full many a story | A |
Poets have sung in its praise simply and touchingly sung | O |
Of the time when the holy still wandered over life's pathways | P |
When with a maidenly shame every sensation was veiled | Q |
When the mighty law that governs the sun in his orbit | R |
And that concealed in the bud teaches the point how to move | S |
When necessity's silent law the steadfast the changeless | P |
Stirred up billows more free e'en in the bosom of man | T |
When the sense unerring and true as the hand of the dial | M |
Pointed only to truth only to what was eternal | M |
- | |
Then no profane one was seen then no initiate was met with | U |
And what as living was felt was not then sought 'mongst the dead | V |
Equally clear to every breast was the precept eternal | M |
Equally hidden the source whence it to gladden us sprang | W |
But that happy period has vanished And self willed presumption | K |
Nature's godlike repose now has forever destroyed | X |
Feelings polluted the voice of the deities echo no longer | Y |
In the dishonored breast now is the oracle dumb | Z |
Save in the silenter self the listening soul cannot find it | G |
There does the mystical word watch o'er the meaning divine | A2 |
There does the searcher conjure it descending with bosom unsullied | B2 |
There does the nature long lost give him back wisdom again | C2 |
If thou happy one never hast lost the angel that guards thee | A |
Forfeited never the kind warnings that instinct holds forth | D2 |
If in thy modest eye the truth is still purely depicted | I |
If in thine innocent breast clearly still echoes its call | E2 |
If in thy tranquil mind the struggles of doubt still are silent | F2 |
If they will surely remain silent forever as now | G2 |
If by the conflict of feelings a judge will ne'er be required | H2 |
If in its malice thy heart dims not the reason so clear | I2 |
Oh then go thy way in all thy innocence precious | P |
Knowledge can teach thee in naught thou canst instruct her in much | J2 |
Yonder law that with brazen staff is directing the struggling | K2 |
Naught is to thee What thou dost what thou mayest will is thy law | D |
And to every race a godlike authority issues | P |
What thou with holy hand formest what thou with holy mouth speakest | H2 |
Will with omnipotent power impel the wondering senses | P |
Thou but observest not the god ruling within thine own breast | H2 |
Not the might of the signet that bows all spirits before thee | A |
Simple and silent thou goest through the wide world thou hast won | K |
Friedrich Schiller
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Genius poem by Friedrich Schiller
Best Poems of Friedrich Schiller